The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-06-17
QUEENS OF THE DUDES.
Something About Reigning Favorites of
., the Footlights. .- .... .....

.s..s special Correspondence. t...s...
....-...- NEW YORK, June 3.
That peculiar class of humanity who have,
III different ages, been known as "beaux,"
"bucks, "fops," "swells," and down to our
own darling dudes, have at all times had some
common object of alteration toward whom
the eyes of all were turned and whose capri
cious favor all stroye to obtain The dude
of the middle ages was, to be sure. u very
different creature from the dude of to day.
but in the knightly chronicles of FIoiSsart we
read how the medieval swell used to get his
gilded armor all mussed up and risk his own
precious neck i'll the Journeys iii honor of the
queen of youth and beauty. r. .F'a
The reign of each of these queens has been
short and has left but small impress upon the
history of the world, but each III her time
was, no doubt, the all absorbing object of the
alteration of the jeunesse doree of her age, as
our present queens of the dudes are to-day,
but when her brief reign was over she did not
pass into history She was forgotten. Ade-
laide Nelson is but name to one younger
generation of play goers as Lillian Russell
and Pauline Hall will be to the next. For
the queens of the dudes have for the last CEN
tury been divinities of the footlights, and it
is in the lime lights glare that we must look
Lillian Russell was the first upon whom the
regal title was bestowed by the press, and she
deserved it, too, Tor young New York went
mad over her baby face and pretty ways; but
Lillian is getting in the sere and yellow now
and holds her scepter with faltering grip;
besides she is growing fat, and fat queen is
out of the question. Born in Clinton, Ia, in
December, 1861, she made her first appear
ance as a violinist in Chicago. When she
came to New York a little later she decided
to give up the violin and trust for success to
her face, which was remarkably pretty, and
her voice, which was only pretty and
pleasing Her name at that time was Helen
Louise Leonard, and she was christened Lii
liam Russell by Tony Pastor because the COM
bination of "ls" in the name looked well on a
three sheet poster. While at Tony Pastors
she was discovered by Mr. e. E. Rice,
who has probably employed more
pretty girls than any other man
in the theatrical business Once with him
she became the furore. Hundreds of dollars
worth of flowers were sent to her almost
every night. She was made queen of the
dudes without a dissenting voice. Then her
marital idiosyncrasies began to exhibit them
e. selves, and everybody is familiar with her
more recent history.
Pauline Hall was the next stage beauty to
take dudedom by storm. She made her first
appearance in Rice's Evangeline company in
the "front row" of the chorus. She is a Gin
cinnati girl, from "over the Rhine" and her
real name is, or was, Pauline Schmidtgall.
She is now, i'll the eyes of the law and to the
favored ones who have the honor of her &C
quaintance, Mrs. White. She is always FORE
most in any effort to assist unfortunate
members of the profession. Personally she
is jolly and unaffected. She has studied hard
during the past few years, and has improved
wonderfully both in singing and acting.
Isabella Urquhart is, from purely artistic
standpoint, perhaps the most beautiful of
any who have held the scepter over New
York dudedom. With face and figure ike
Greek statue, her classical outlines caught
the popular fancy at once. She still reiglls
and a by no means small number of theatre
goers enthusiastically refer to her as the most
beautiful woman on the stage. She, Low
ever, values her kingdom but lightl1, and lie
votes herself to study ner anu4..on b,lng
centered in her art. She made her first ap-
pearance at the Standard theatre, under
Henderson's management, and since has
played opposite to Pauline Hall at the Casino
Miss Urquhart is one of the cold and reserved
beauties, and keeps her admirers at very
respectful distance She is one of the few
dude queens who have brains as well as
beauty The breath of scandal has never
tainted her reputation, and this is possibly
the reason why we have not seen more Of her
name in the papers
Marie Jansen is chubby, roly poly, jolly
creature, who made her first appearance with
Ed. Rice in Boston some four or five years
ago. She then came to New York and took
the dudes by storm by her singing of ssOh,
Mamma" in the Black Hussar Wherever
she went she was the idol OF the dude contin-
gent Now she is at the Casino and is recog-
nized as the especial pet of the gilded youths
who compose the Seventh regiment.
Mrs. Langtry can hardly he enrolled in this
category among the dude queens, for, though
the jeunesse doree went crazy over her for a
time, she selected her own particular dude
early in her career and stuck to him through
thick and thin. 1t is pretty definitely settled
now that she will marry Fred. Gebhardt SO
soon as she can procure divorce from her
husband Her beauty has so often been de-
scribed that people who see her are generally
disappointed. 1t consists mainly ina queenly
carriage and marvellous complexion adj; i
to a certain charm Of manner which w.u!!
convince blind man that she must be lover.
In addition to those have mentioned, the.
have been a number of lesser queens Min,
have risen, reignel over their little king
doms and relapsed into obscurity Beauty is
the prime factor in the title of qiieenslip, and
it is no easy matter to preserve that quality
with the late hours, wine suppers and high
tension living which successful rcisning over
dudetl0m requires Stage beauties ,lre much
more careful of their figures and eoniplcx:o,ls
than socie, y bellies The nla;ority of them
have regular system. which may no lie un-
interesting to some of my fair readers. To
begin with, if the stage beauty goes to bed
late she sleeps late, for there is nothing more
destructive to feminine good looks than lack
of sleep. Immediately upon rising she takes
cool bath, not the cold stub" of
our English cousins, for that tends to
make the skin too ruddy, but just
enough hot water in the bath to take the chill
off. Then after being rubbed down she eats
light breakfast of fruit and oat meal. In
the morning she takes just enough exercise to
keep the flesh from becoming habby, not
enough to make it muscular, however.
Lunch is another light meal of fruit and
grain food. Fencing and boxing are prac-
ticed to keep the joints supple, and frequent
Turkish baths preserve the skin in good con-
dition Some cover the face with paste of
oat meal to whiten the complexion: others
wash the face only in pure, cool, not cold,
water without touch of soap. Olga Bran
don, who was a stage beauty in her time,
never touched water to her face at all, but
rubbed it with a piece Of dry white velvet.
The stage beauty avoids all greasy food and
all kinds of stimulants, including tea and
coffee. She goes to bed early as often as she
cam In short, in private life she is more of
slave TO her own complexion and figure
than are her admirers. Thus she makes up
for the ravages OF late hours and champagne
suppers. She lives double life, checking J
herself at every turn. and at the best her
reign is limited to few years. Another
beauty catches the public fancy, and the
reigning queen is deposed to make way for
her.
Does it paya
Well, hardly. ALLAN FoRMAN.
sesssr Kossuth's Weight of Years.
Touis KosSuti the venerable HUNGARIAN